Common Sense Corner

[Steel Beast 6Beets]

If we allowed players to change the wardrobe of the characters, does that mean we'd have to make battlers for every outfit available? That would be an awful lot of job.

[KasperKalamity]

Tutorials. Teach the player to do stuff somehow. Up to you how to do it!

Is that what you were trying to say, Kasper? 'Cuz the first part was Ra-Ra-Ra about a game that was used to make a point about item placements, and I wasn't sure where it was going

i was using it as an example since he had already played it. tutorials are important, but just like in megaman, they need to be organic and interwoven into the experience. you know why you skip that owl in zelda? he's boring and you don't want to take in all that information while you could be running and swording things. ESPECIALLY IN THE BEGINNING i want to be running out of the gate to explore and do. fallout 3 interwove the tutorial into the story and gameplay perfectly by showing the character growing up as a way to familiarize the player with the world and its mechanics. trust me i'm a mad scientist.

[Bounty Hunter Lani]

Understood!

I have been playing Dragon Nest for about two months, and even though my character is level 72 out of the maximum of 80, I'm STILL discovering new things that were introduced! (Mercenaries, Chaos Modes, etc.)

I think as you introduce something in a game (Maybe a Summon), you could perhaps explain it quickly. Having text for miles on end explaining something can be ANNOYING, as you mentioned in the Owl example.

Oh, and about the outfit changes... I suppose you would have to make some edits in battlers and sprites so you can have the new outfits and such, but if you're using a "Team" of makers doing different jobs, or you have a bit of skill in doing it yourself, then it wouldn't be too difficult... And if you really need to, Photoshop might come in handy for it

AAAAAAAAND, if you're bad at making the out-of-battle sprites, then here's a site that can help you make some:
http://www.geocities.jp/kurororo4/looseleaf/

If you need a spriter for battle sprites, you could ask around for it. I'm sure the site has a few people that could make a few simple (Or complex) edits

[JayRay]

If we allowed players to change the wardrobe of the characters, does that mean we'd have to make battlers for every outfit available? That would be an awful lot of job.

Well, not necessarily... one bodysuit can go a long way... erase pants for a longsleeve shirt, erase longsleeve shirt for a short sleeve shirt, erase sleeves for a sleeveless... so on and so forth.

Robe, erase up to the knees for a minidress, erase around the legs for a loincloth.

Gauntlets become gloves, boots become shoes...

with a little work, a lot of clothes can be made.

[DerVVulfman]

If we allowed players to change the wardrobe of the characters, does that mean we'd have to make battlers for every outfit available? That would be an awful lot of job.

Well, not necessarily... one bodysuit can go a long way... erase pants for a longsleeve shirt, erase longsleeve shirt for a short sleeve shirt, erase sleeves for a sleeveless... so on and so forth.

And if you're going that way, a decent script that lets you use these outfits should also have a hue setting. A plain blue shirt could also be made green, gold, pink, orange, red... just by messing with the hue IF the script lets you. Different colored trim on the shirt? Well, that would be affected too.

One simple shirt like this could become nearly a dozen. But that's more like a combination of common sense meets technicality. Aaaand, probably all that needs saying for multiple wardrobes and using a paperdoll system.

Here's something about tutorials and lengthy explanations. How about a library or a built-in help system or guide?

A library could contain many tomes on the world at hand. Look at the Elder Scrolls games and you'll find hundreds of books, be they historical and filler to describe the world's culture and political structure, or something to give the player a nudge in the right direction. OR they're a needed item to complete a quest. "ORC: Want a statue built? Get me a book on making statues!!! PLAYER: Sigh.... Okay, I'll see if I can find one." That really happened. Or, you can have some book within like "Dummies guide to Alchemy" if you have a crafting system in your game. Just put it in some booky... artsy... way so it reads like someone wrote it but have it describe your crafting minigame.

Or, have something like an extra 'Help' menu option if you know how to edit your main menu. Don't have everything revealed though. If you have a special 'Summons' feature, don't show it in the help options until the player finds out "Oh, you can summon ... skunks now!" Just have like the basics at first. Then as the player finds out he can do other things, have those options become visible. Hey! Good use for switches there.

Minorly Technical - Not flooding with Tech Speak

Spoilered only for the technically minded to read.

*The switches you turn on/off in RPGMaker's [Control Switches] map command can be used in a script too. The class that handles these switches is called Game_Switches, and you mess around with it by bringing up $game_switches.

If you turn on *RPGMaker XP's Switch #3 in the map, it's like saying

Code:

game_switches[3] = true

And if you wanted to see if RPGMaker VX's switch #30 was turned on, you would be like

Code:

if $game_switches[30] == true

Likewise, you 'COULD' make a script that manipulates $game_switches to turn on/off a switch in the map, but that's more complicated because you need to do a couple more things.... so I'm not gonna talk anymore on the subject.

*Same switch classes exist between RPGMaker XP, VX and VXAce, so the practice is the same.

But how he finds out about these options are probably through an NPC who mentions something on how they work too. But I wouldn't want him to keep saying 'You press the [A] button to jump.' every time you talk to him. Just cut that dialog to a first time appearance and throw it in to the help screen if you got one. Repetitive tutorials from the NPCs doesn't make sense and makes it look like they're ... overly stereotypical and idiotic RPG NPCs.

If the player keeps doing something stupid though... The NPC could berate him with a series of random phrases though. "Hey, MORON! I said use [A] to jump!'.... 'You're doing it wrong! Hit [A]!' ... 'When are you going to use [A] to jump? You're looking like an idiot.' .... 'Dude, total fail! Just try the [A] button.'

[Steel Beast 6Beets]

The Shadow Hearts games did that.

All the tutorials were done via infodumps through the Help section of the main menu. Likewise, the combat tutorials were addressed directly to the player (no 4th wall-breaking shenanigans this time).

[DerVVulfman]

You could have a guy you're fighting shout "Hey, Moron... That fire skill won't work on me!" if he's hit with one.

That was done, even in movies.

stupid movie

Hostage and Hero duck behind a metal desk. Hostage sees the hero has a couple of grenades hanging off his belt. Hostage grabs one and quickly tosses it at the terrorist.

Terrorist looks... bends down... and picks up the grenade.

Terrorist: Hey, moron. You forgot to take the pin out.

Hero is surprised at the comment. Quickly checks... yep, one grenade is missing. He glares at the hostage, grabs the other... pulls the pin... and tosses the other at the terrorist.

The terrorist, about to take a step forward, suddenly sees the second grenade, and goes pale.

BOOM!

[Bounty Hunter Lani]

Discussions on Humerous NPCs

Here's another NPC-related tip:

NPCs can be recurring characters that can simply be there for humor, or you could relate them to the story itself!

A deaf guy teaching you of music?
A guy who had his house crushed by a giant kitten? (The kitty got giant because you accidentally used the wrong potion on it?)

It's up to you!

Have fun with it! It's game making, not fat camp!
(Bad analogy?)

[Bounty Hunter Lani]

Discussions on Thematic Game Music

When it comes to composing music for your game, having a common theme, hidden or not, can help your game's music be more recognizable to a player.

Many games do this, especially Final Fantasy games. (Final Fantasy IX had about 70% of their songs with the theme of Melodies of Life in it, if you listen closely!)

Of course, it doesn't ALL have to go by the same theme! Be creative! Go crazy!

I've attached two songs I made for my game. They are the EXACT SAME NOTES, just modified in a few ways.
Could YOU hear it?

[DerVVulfman]

You should note that you did that with nothing more than a PC keyboard in real time.

Having a thematic score is always a good idea in my viewpoint. You can hear the same melodies 'Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec' and 'Eyes on Me' throughout the Final Fantasy VIII score. And for the film inclined, Johnathan WIlliams Star Wars scores are just filled with character themes.

Meanwhile, I should add that each piece of music in a game score should have a constant 'energy' throughout. I'm saying energy for lack of a better word. What I mean is that if you hear a battle theme, you don't have a rising cresendo towards the end as you would in a movie when the hero finally beats the villain. It's good in a movie, but sucks when you have to loop back. It kinda kills the illusion when the music restarts.

I know one forum member (who had formerly retired but is now back to being staff again) that made a slightly moody and atmospheric piece that I compare favorably to the work of Angelo Baldamenti (Nightmare on Elm Street 3). Her piece is perfect for a modern day mystery crawl.

That's not to say each piece throughout the game must all have the same energy. Battlemusic should be very energetic, though it may optionally be plodding and angst filled if you're going with the whole doom and gloom thing. Villages that aren't in peril can be light melodies... but pleasem not too saccarin sweet! Ugh, I can't use the ones that came with RPGMaker! I use the field music!!!